Celebrities who take drugs are helping fuel the trade in cocaine that is devastating Africa, a United Nations chief has warned.

In a stinging attack, Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN's Office on Drugs and Crime, accused "coke- snorting fashionistas" of glamorising the racket.

He claimed it was turning some of Africa's poorest countries into failed "narco-states", leaving a trail of misery, corruption and violence comparable to that of the slave trade 200 years ago.

Singling out the singer Amy Winehouse, whom he called the "poster girl for drug abuse", and supermodel Kate Moss, whose career flourished after she was publicly exposed as a cocaine user, Mr Costa said: "One song, one picture, one quote that makes cocaine look cool can undo millions of pounds worth of anti-drug education and prevention.

"Coke-snorting fashionistas are not only damaging their brains - they are contributing to state failure on the other side of the world.

"Amy Winehouse might adopt a defiant pose and slur her way through (the song) Rehab but does she realise the message she sends to others who are vulnerable to addiction and who cannot afford expensive treatment?

Kate Moss: Accused of fuelling the cocaine trade

"Why is this behaviour socially acceptable? If Miss Winehouse advertised fur coats or blood diamonds, there would be a backlash. Yet when she is the poster girl for drug abuse, nobody seems to care."

Mr Costa's fierce attack comes days after other UN officials condemned the British legal system for its lenient treatment of celebrity junkies such as the rock musician

Mr Costa went on to claim the efforts of stars, including Bob Geldof and Bono, to highlight Africa's plight were being undermined "by the drug habits of careless peers such as Kate Moss".

"If celebrities want to do something to help Africa or regions like Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean that are caught in the crossfire of drug trafficking, and if they want to free people from a life of addiction, they should use their influential voices to speak out against drugs," he said.

Mr Costa, who spearheads the UN's global efforts to tackle the drugs trade, claimed cocaine could prove a "disaster" for many of the poorest West African states.

The drug has succeeded in "perverting" economies and spreading corruption and addiction, which cash-starved governments cannot begin to deal with.

Many are now in danger of complete collapse as a result, he added.

Arguing that the trade could be as devastating to Africa as slavery, Mr Costa said: "In the 19th century, Europe's hunger for slaves devastated West Africa. Two hundred years later, its growing appetite for cocaine could do the same."